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Fort Bhairavadurga, Kuduru Betta

Ever since we read about the existence of Navadurgas (Nine Forts) around Bangalore, our hunt for these were on. It is rather surprising that information on the Navadurgas is limited along with the ambiguity about the nine forts and the basis
of them being called as Navadurgas. We were confident about eight forts out of the nine namely Savanadurga, Kabbaladurga, Huthridurga, Devarayanadurga, Makalidurga, Channarayanadurga, Nandidurga and Huliyurdurga. The ninth one listed, Bandallidurga, did not sound convincing since its location ( M M hills) somehow seemed to be far away from the Bangalore circuit. When we read about Bhairavadurga , we thought that it fits this list perfectly, though not sure. Not much of history of this place is known except that it was built by
Kempe Gowda II and later was conquered by Tippu Sultan and the British.

Bhairavadurga Hill

The Path

Every now and then, we were haunted by our incomplete trek to Fort Bhairavadurga. On a early Sunday morning, we decided to conquer this fort second time around and set out towards exploring Bhairavadurga. Having chosen a wrong path along with a wrong time for climbing this hill last time, we ensured all was well during our ascent this time. We inquired about the right route to the hill top from locals . We began our climb slowly and steadily and after some time, we came across a fleet of steps which gave us some relief since the trek until then was quite tiresome. The end of flight lead us to the first tier of the Fort. Hereon, we followed the trail up to the next tier and continued until we reached a spot which looked tricky to climb without any support as it was very steep. There were remains of iron rods embedded in the rock which probably served as a support system for climbing. After crossing this, it was a leisure walk to the top tier. There is a water spring or Dhonne (in Kannada) in between two massive rocks on the hill top with well laid steps. The water in this spring never dries up even in the severest of the summers. There are big boulders and a few ruined structures on the top .The views from the hill top were outstanding.

Final Tier of the Fort

Spring (or Dhonne in Kannada)

Balancing Act

Boulders and the Ruined Structure

Base of a Grinding Stone

Bird's eye view of Kudoor village

Glass/ Poly-House

Lord Anjaneya

There is a cave temple dedicated to lord Bhairaveshwara on the other side of the hill . The Antaragange temple in Kudoor village is considered to be more ancient than the Fort. Unfortunately, this temple was closed during our visit.

View of Shivagange

Crumbling Walls

Panoramic View

Sun Basking

Directions from Bangalore - NH 48 - Solur - Right Turn -Kudoor - Left Turn - Travel a kilometer, then take a Left Turn to find an Arch Entrance - Reach the Fort Base Distance from Bangalore - 55 km

35 comments:

What an awesome place!! You do take us to such beautiful and fascinating places! Your captures are superb as always and I do enjoy the information/history you include! Hope your weekend is going well! Enjoy!

I'm glad you persevered in reaching this fort. Parts of the hike were very challenging, but I think it was worth it. The views from the top of the hill are spectacular, and the ruins are interesting. Thanks for taking us along with you on this adventure.

Thanks for the writing. About the navadurgas: I remember seeing paintings of various forts including navadurgas at tippu's palace in sri rangapattana. Alternately, look up old mysore gazeeter should help. (specimen: http://archive.org/details/mysoreagazettee00ricegoog)

What a lovely place.You always show unique places.My husband too read the post with me and is highly impressed.The clicks are awesome specially the balancing act and the bird eye view .Great work TgS. Due to extreme slow internet speed I could not comment earlier as the pictures and the comment box was not opening up .

Judging by your directions, looks like Bhairavadurga is nothing but the Kudur betta which I know since my childhood. I have been eying to trek this hill for almost 15 yrs - gets reminded every time I visit my home town, which is just 4 KMs form Kudur. I have also heard a legend about a local leader and his beloved horse who died by jumping form the peak to avoid getting arrested by British/Tippu. I'll try to get that information from my dad.

And there is an alternate road as well. Instead of turning right at Solur, travel further down till Marur handpost and turn right. You reach the hill after approx 5KMs

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